Quadruplet mother says bye to childbearing

A 25-year-old mother of six children, Mrs. Patience Abantelhe, has accepted to embrace a family planning technique after she was delivered of quadruplets.

The babies, who weigh 1.7, 1.7, 1.2 and 1.3 kilograms respectively are currently in an incubator at the hospital and are the third, fourth, fifth and sixth children of the Abantelhe, who already have two children.

Southern City News learnt on Tuesday that Abantelhe’s desire to embrace family planning technique was influenced by the Director-General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Betta Edu, who visited her in the hospital.

Abantelhe was delivered of three boys and one girl last Friday at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Obudu, Cross River State through a caesarean session.

She had said that she would no longer wish to have more babies.

In a message related to Southern City News by the director-general after the visit, Abantelhe said, “I know about family planning and I will do it before I leave the hospital, I do not want any other children now.”

However, Edu said the economic situation in Nigeria called for a review of family planning techniques.

She stressed that the mother of six might face some level of hardship because she was jobless while the husband was a carpenter.

The director-general also urged parents to adopt family planning technique so as to reduce maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.

She said countries where the technique was imbibed had a low rate of mother/child death after delivery.

Edu said, “Just five days ago, a woman in the northern senatorial district of the state delivered quadruplet, she already has six children while the husband is a carpenter and she is a full time housewife.

“Family planning is like a vaccine for maternal mortality. If there is family planning, there is the likelihood of reducing maternal mortality. If we imbibe family planning, this maternal mortality that is getting too high in Nigeria will be reduced.

“Again, family planning will help them manage their situation economically considering what Nigeria is going through. If women can embrace family planning, they can take good care of the few children they have.”